Australian Missionary Detained in North Korea

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONYANG, North Korea – John Short, an Australian missionary who has been working in Asia for 50 years, has been detained in Pyonyang after apparently disseminating Christian pamphlets at a tourist site.  The 75-year-old carried Korean-language pamphlets advocating Christianity into the East Asian nation, which were later discovered by security personnel.

John Short was detained on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Times)

Australia has no representation in North Korea, leaving diplomats scrambling to prevent a potentially lengthy detention in the secretive regime. A spokesman from the Seoul embassy said he was seeking more information about his case.

“We are in close contact with Swedish officials in Pyongyang to seek their assistance in confirming the well being of Mr. Short,” the spokesman said.

With no representation in the authoritative country, the Australian government is essentially powerless to help Short directly. Instead, it is left to rely on Swedish officials in the North Korean capital to check on Short’s well being.

“John is still in North Korea in detention and being questioned as to why he was carrying Korean-language Christian materials,” Karen Short said via telephone in Hong Kong, where she co-owns a Christian publishing firm with her husband.

“He wanted to go as a Christian but not do anything untoward or unwise, because it’s a very closed country, the world knows that. He’s not cavalier in any way, but he is a man of faith.”

She said it was her husband’s second trip to North Korea and that he knew it was not a tourist destination, but said he “cares about the people and wants to help.”

It is unclear what charges, if any, Short may face. However, last year North Korea sentenced American missionary Kenneth Bae to 15 years hard labor after convicting him of trying to overthrow the state. Efforts from Washington to secure his release have proven unsuccessful.

Karen Short says that her husband is fit and healthy and has not yet suffered any physical harm.

Short is no stranger to testing circumstances. A former soldier in the Australian military, he arrived in Hong Kong in 1964 and worked at a refugee clinic during the turmoil of China’s Cultural Revolution. Even so, there is no disputing the tremendous peril he currently faces, including a possible 15-year prison sentence similar to Bae’s. “I pray for my husband to come back soon,” says Karen Short, “I miss him dearly.”

For more information, please see:

TIME – Concern, Little Sympathy, for Australian Missionary Detained in North Korea – 20 February 2014

The Australian – Visiting missionary arrested in North Korea – 20 February 2014

BBC News – North Korea detains Australian missionary – 19 February 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald – South Australian man detained in North Korea on suspicion of doing missionary work – 19 February 2014

abc NEWS – Family: Australian Missionary Held in North Korea – 19 February 2014

Russian Activist Punk Band Press Conference Disrupted by Protestors in Sochi

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Demonstrators disrupted Russian punk band Pussy Riot as the former political prisoners attempted to hold a press conference.

Costumed heckler, joined by five university students, disrupted Pussy Riot’s press conference for the punk band’s newest anti-Putin music video. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

In 2012, Russian dissident musicians Pussy Riot rose to international fame by storming a Moscow cathedral, where they performed a provocative song that denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin. Band members Maria Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina imprisoned for hooliganism and inciting religious hatred. Authorities released them, alongside other political prisoners, shortly before the Olympics began in Sochi.

However, Pussy Riot immediately returned to denouncing the Kremlin, as well as conditions inmates endure in Russian prisons.

On 18 February 2014, police in Sochi detained members of Pussy Riot, human rights activists, and journalists in connection with an alleged theft at the band’s hotel. All charges were dropped and the detainees released within hours.

On 20 February 2014, Pussy Riot released an angry music video—“Putin Will Teach You to Love Your Country”—against Putin’s crackdown on free expression, as well as the Sochi Olympics’ price of $50 billion. In the song, Pussy Riot sings about the “constitution being lynched,” government pressure against Russia’s independent television station, and last week’s sentencing of environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko to a penal colony for three years.

“The goal is to show what it’s like to be a political activist in Olympic Sochi,” said Pussy Riot member Tolokonnikova.

The video included the previous day’s footage of Cossacks—descendants of the former patrolmen of Russian borderlands—whipping the band members shortly after their song began near a “Sochi 2014” sign.

While foreign media prepared for a news conference with the band at a Sochi hotel, a hotel employee informed journalists that the conference room was unavailable. Several dozen journalists went outside, where uniformed police and undercover security officers waited for band members to arrive.

As the four Pussy Riot members approached with arms locked, five male university students, accompanied by a man dressed in a giant chicken suit, pulled out raw chickens and chanted, “We like sex with chicken” in mangled English. Then the students and costumed chicken attempted to disrupt the news conference.

The man in the chicken costume said, “We don’t like people who have sex with food. We don’t want them here.”

“We don’t understand their behavior and that’s why we’re protesting,” said 23-year old Sergei Barashov, one of the anti-Pussy Riot demonstrators. Barashov expressed concern that the punk band would desecrate a recently-built Russian Orthodox cathedral on the outskirts of Sochi’s Olympic Park.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Beaten But Hardly Tamed, Pussy Riot Strikes Back in Sochi – February 20, 2014

Guardian – Pussy Riot’s Tour of Sochi: Arrests, Protests – and Whipping by Cossacks – February 20, 2014

New York Daily News – Bondy: Pussy Riot Slams ‘Total Police and Security Control’ of Winter Olympics at ‘Secret’ Press Conference – February 20, 2014

Reuters – Pussy Riot Mocks Russia’s Olympics in Music Video – February 20, 2014

New York Times – Members of Russian Protest Group Attacked by Cossacks in Sochi – February 19, 2014

Truce Between Ukrainian Government and Opposition Deteriorates As 100 Killed in Latest Fighting in Kiev

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – Gunfire erupted between government security forces and opposition protesters at Independence Square in Kiev on Thursday.

The aftermath of the latest violence in Kiev on Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

The latest violent scuffle occurred just two days after a breakout of violence that left 28 people dead, and mere hours after President Viktor Yanukovych announced a truce between government security forces and opposition leaders on late Wednesday evening.

As a result of the latest violence, approximately 100 people were killed and 500 were injured in the clashes, according to the opposition forces’ medical team. The Ukrainian government has not released its own casualty numbers, but Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko stated that 25 police officers were injured and an unknown amount were killed. There were also allegedly hostages taken during the violence.

The Ukraine’s hostile situation began in November, when President Yanukovych nixed a trade deal with the European Union, and decided to deal with Russia. A conflict between an alliance with Russia and cooperation with the European Union has permeated the Ukrainian government for years.

It is not specifically known exactly what sparked Thursday’s violence, as conflicting reports indicate protestors throwing Molotov cocktails, and security forces pursuing opposition forces. Interior Minister Zakharchenko stated the violence was “provoked exclusively by the opposition leaders.” President Yanukovych’s office also indicated that the protesters of broke the truce. “The opposition used the negotiation period to buy time, to mobilize and get weapons to protesters,” a statement from the President’s office said.

An individual working for the opposition as a medical respondent accused government forces of shooting to kill, saying she had treated 13 people she believed had been targeted by “professional snipers.” “They were shot directly to their hearts, their brain and to their neck. They didn’t give any chance to doctors, for us, to save lives,” she stated.

European Union officials were scheduled to meet to discuss possible sanctions against the Ukrainian government on Thursday, which could include freezing assets and restricting the visas of officials deemed responsible for violence in that country, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged President Yanukovych to accept EU aid in negotiations with the opposition. Russia’s foreign ministry, however, appeared to criticize Western diplomatic efforts. “The ongoing attempts to obtrusively intervene from outside, threat with sanctions or trying to influence the situation in any other ways are inappropriate and can’t lead to anything good but can only aggravate the confrontation,” Russian spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich stated.

Ukrainian athletes dawned black mourning bands and held a moment of silence Thursday at the Sochi Olympics.

For more information, please see: 

CNN – Truce Crumbles Amid Gunfire in Ukraine, Protesters Claim 100 Dead – 20 February 2014

Reuters – Ukraine Truce Shattered, Death Toll Tops 50 – 20 February 2014

The Telegraph – Ukraine Protests Live: Death Toll Mounts Amid “Sniper Attacks” As Fresh Fighting Breaks Truce – 20 February 2014

New York Times – Ukraine Leader Strains For Grip As Chaos Spreads – 19 February 2014

 

*For live video coverage of the Events in Kiev, click here.